twenty yards below; and a little climbing and swimming soon brought him to
my side. On the opposite side, against the wall, lay the boat bottom up;
and Lambert was in the act of saving Descoteaux, whom he had grasped by
the hair, and who could not swim; "_Lache pas_," said he, as I
afterwards learned, "_lache pas, cher frere_." "_Crains pas_,"
was the reply: "_je m'en vais mourir avant que de te lacher_." Such
was the reply of courage and generosity in this danger. For a hundred
yards below the current was covered with floating books and boxes, bales
and blankets, and scattered articles of clothing; and so strong and
boiling was the stream, that even our heavy instruments, which were all in
cases, kept on the surface, and the sextant, circle, and the long black
box of the telescope, were in view at once. For a moment, I felt somewhat
disheartened. All our books--almost every record of the journey--our
journals and registers of astronomical and barometrical observations--had
been lost in a moment. But it was no time to indulge in regrets; and I
immediately set about endeavoring to save something from the wreck. Making
ourselves understood as well as possible by signs, (for nothing could be
heard in the roar of the waters,) we commenced our operations. Of every
thing on board, the only article that had been saved was my double-
barreled gun, which Descoteaux had caught and clung to with drowning
tenacity. The men continued down the river on the left bank. Mr. Preuss
and myself descended on the side we were on; and Lajeunesse, with a paddle
in his hand, jumped on the boat alone, and continued down the canon. She
was now light, and cleared every bad place with much less difficulty. In a
short time he was joined by Lambert, and the search was continued for
about a mile and a half, which was as far as the boat could proceed in the
pass.

Here the walls were about five hundred feet high, and the fragments of
rocks from above had choked the river into a hollow pass, but one or two